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Dumars out as Pistons president, will continue as adviser to team

After 14 seasons, Joe Dumars is out as president of basketball operations for the struggling Detroit Pistons.

He’ll move into an advisory role.

“Dumars will continue his relationship with the franchise as an advisor to the organization and its ownership team,” the team said in a statement issued this morning.

While the Pistons didn’t provide a reason for the change, the team has struggled for years on the basketball court, and Dumars was unable to return the National Basketball Association franchise to the glory years of his playing days and early front-office tenure.

Dumars’ role in the interim will be handled by Ken Catanella, director of basketball operations, and Assistant General Manager George David, the team said. They will report to Phil Norment and Bob Wentworth, who oversee the Pistons as a business entity for owner Tom Gores.

The Pistons said they have a preliminary list of candidates to replace Dumars. No names were disclosed.

David, who joined the team during the 1996-97 season, has been assistant general manager since 2012 and was Dumars’ second-in-command.

Dumars was in the final year of a contract that ends in July. The Detroit News broke the news last week that Dumars would resign by the end of the season on Wednesday. The Detroit Free Press on Sunday reported that he instead would shift to a new role within the organization.

“Joe Dumars is a great champion who has meant so much to this franchise and this community,” Gores said in a statement. “We are turning the page with great respect for what he has accomplished not only as a player and a front office executive, but as a person who has represented this team and the NBA with extraordinary dignity.”

Dumars was drafted 18th overall in the 1985 NBA draft out of McNeese State and played for the Pistons until 1999. The 6-3, 195-pound guard was a six-time all-star and known for his defensive prowess.

He was inducted into the Naismith MemorialBasketball Hall of Fame in 2006 for a career that included championships in 1989 and 1990.

Dumars, 50, was hired as team president on June 6, 2000, by then-owner William Davidson. In 2004, the team he assembled won the franchise’s third NBA championship.

The Pistons were 595-536 (.527) in the regular season under Dumars.

However, Detroit hasn’t had a winning season since 2007-08 and hasn’t made the playoffs since being swept in the first round by the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2008-09. That ended a run of eight straight seasons in the playoffs, and attendance went from among the best in the NBA to among the worst — fueling a revenue drop-off.

There also has been a continuity issue: The Pistons have had eight head coaches in Dumars’ 14 seasons as team president.

The most recent coaching change was the debacle with Maurice “Mo” Cheeks, whom Dumars hired last June as the team’s 29th head coach — the Pistons’ third coach in three years and ninth since 2000.

Amid reports of player discord, Cheeks was fired by team owner Tom Gores on Feb. 9, after just 50 games and a 21-29 record.

Dumars has been criticized in recent years for poor drafting, mediocre trades and free-agent signings that didn’t pan out. He also garnered praise for acquiring or drafting players such as Ben Wallace, Chauncey Billups and Andre Drummond.

The Sporting News named Dumars its NBA Executive of the Decade in 2009.

The Pistons today are 29-52 and 26th in the 30-team NBA with 15,005 fans per game on average at the 22,076-seat Palace of Auburn Hills. Last season, they averaged 14,782 per game when Detroit finished 29-53.

As recently as the 2009-10 season, the Pistons led the NBA in average per-game attendance. In 2011, Crain's reported that the team had lost half its season ticket base, which translates into 6,000 seats and more than $6 million in annual revenue.

The Pistons were taking in about $600,000 a game in ticket revenue, and are seeking to up that to about $1 million nightly, which is closer to the NBA average.

Since Gores, a private equity billionaire, bought the team for $325 million in June 2011, he’s replaced almost all of the upper management on the entertainment side of the business, and the Palace business operations have been restructured.

He’s also spent $40 million on upgrades and renovations at the Palace.

Former Los Angeles Dodgers top executive Dennis Mannion was hired by Gores in September 2011 to be president of Palace Sports & Entertainment Inc.

That’s the same organizational structure as under former owner Davidson, when Dumars and longtime Palace Sports President Tom Wilson both reported directly to him. Wilson was hired by the Ilitch family’s sports and entertainment operation in 2010.

Mannion oversees all Pistons and Palace Sports business operations, including sales, marketing, finance and administration, the team said in a statement this morning.

Dumars oversaw only basketball operations.

Palace Sports is the umbrella corporation for the Pistons, The Palace of Auburn Hills and DTE Energy Music Theatre and holder of the contract to manage Meadow Brook Music Festival for Oakland University.

The NBA’s annual award for sportsmanship is named for Dumars, and the team retired his No. 4 jersey in 2000.

He was named the NBA’s Executive of the Year for the 2002-03 season.

The Louisiana-born Dumars has been a businessman off the court.

In 2006, he sold off his stake in Bingham Farms-based auto supplier Detroit Technologies Inc. that he founded during his playing career and ran as its president and CEO.

He also is co-investor in Joe Dumars’ Fieldhouse, an indoor sports and entertainment facility with locations at the Michigan State Fairgrounds and in Shelby Township.

He also invested in the startup of Troy-based First Michigan Bank and sat on its board. It’s now Talmer Bancorp., and Dumars is no longer on the board.

When he retired from basketball, Dumars held the team record for three-point shots made (990) and was its second all-time leading scorer with 16,401 points. He finished second in career assists (4,612), third in steals (902), third in field goals made (5,994), third in field goals attempted (13,026), third in free throws made (3,423) and third in free throws attempted (4,059), according to his team biography.